The Herd:
The Bisons' All-Star pitcher was at the top of his game yet again for Buffalo.
Nelson Figueroa delivered another quality start and his Herd teammates cashed in with an 8-3 victory over the Rochester Red Wings, Saturday night from Frontier Field.
Making his first start since being named an International League All-Star, Figueroa allowed just two runs in six innings of work for his fourth consecutive win. He struck out eight Rochester batters, including a string of four straight between the bottom of the second and third innings.
Figueroa has now allowed two runs or less in six consecutive starts, a streak that began with a June that saw him go 3-0 with a 1.53ERA. Figueroa now has the 8th-lowest ERA in the International League at 2.63.
A victim of low run support earlier in the year, the Bisons swung the bats for their All-Star on Saturday. Rene Rivera's sac fly in the second got the Herd on the board. Buffalo then scored three runs in the third and sixth innings, building an insurmountable 7-1 lead. Jesus Feliciano knocked in a run in both rallies, giving him a team-high 31RBI on the season.
Sunday, July 5 Erie 1:05 pm LHP Eric Niesen (0-4, 7.64) vs. RHP Pat Stanley (2-2, 4.85)
Monday, July 6 Erie 1:05 pm RHP Eric Brown (4-8, 5.57) vs. LHP Jon Kibler (4-5, 3.77)
Tuesday, July 7 at Portland 7:00 pm RHP Brad Holt (0-2, 9.90) vs. TBA
Wednesday, July 8 at Portland 7:00 pm TBA vs. TBA
Ike Davis hit his first career AA home run and Dylan Owen pitched six scoreless innings for his first win of the season as Binghamton downed the Erie SeaWolves 3-0 Saturday night at NYSEG Stadium. Lucas Duda and Shawn Bowman both went 2-4 in the contest and the B-Mets collected their fourth shutout of the season.Davis’ home run was a three-run shot off SeaWolves starter Luis Marte, to put Binghamton in front 3-0 in the sixth inning. Mike Nickeas walked to lead off the frame and was bunted to second by Jose Coronado. Jonathan Malo then walked to bring up Davis for his long drive to right-center field.Bowman led off the seventh with a base hit with Marte still on the mound and advanced to second on a wild pitch with Nickeas at the plate. Nickeas then drove him in with a single to make it 4-0. Owen worked out of two bases-loaded jams for Binghamton (30-50). The first came in the fourth inning when he struck out Ron Bourquin. The second was in the sixth when with two outs he walked Alex Avila and Casper Wells before Bourquin reached on a Bowman fielding error. Owen then got Danny Worth to fly out ending the inning and keeping the game scoreless. Owen ran his scoreless streak to 13.2 innings in his last two starts. At Akron in his last start he went a scoreless 7.2 innings in a no-decision. This time he went six scoreless, giving up five hits and two walks to move to 1-5 on the year. Jake Ruckle saved his first career game as he went 2.1 innings only allowing one hit.
Gnats:
Starting pitcher Jeurys Familia (6-5) was nearly un-hittable for six innings versus the Greenville Drive Saturday night in the Sand Gnats, 4-2, win over the Drive. The 19-year-old Familia hurled six innings and allowed two unearned runs on three hits with seven strikeouts. Familia retired 15 Drive batters in a row from the first inning through the first out in the sixth.
The Dominican Republic native didn’t get the offensive support in his last start but he got it tonight as Savannah plated the first of its two runs in the third. A leadoff single by Jean Luc Blaquiere was followed up by a Jefry Marte triple that made it, 1-0, Gnats. Joey August subsequently drove in Marte from third and the Gnats secured a two-run advantage.
They would extend it to 3-0 on a Sean Ratliff RBI-double that broke an 0-for-29 slump for the outfielder. Greenville answered with two in the bottom half of the sixth to cut the lead to one but the Gnats added an insurance run in the seventh off reliever Lance McClain when he walked Eric Campbell with the bases loaded.
Greenville didn’t go quietly into the night as they put a rally together in the final inning against Rhiner Cruz. After Cruz got the first out, Will Middlebrooks singled and Ryan Dent walked to put the tying runs on. Cruz battled to strikeout Oscar Tejeda for the second out but then allowed a single through the left side to Pete Hissey.
On the play, third-base coach Billy McMillion put the stop sign up for Middlebrooks rounding third but he ran right through it and August’s throw was on target and Kai Gronauer hung on to the baseball as Middlebrooks plowed him for the final out of the game. Cruz picked up his 13th save of the season, which now ties him for second in the league.
The Dominican Republic native didn’t get the offensive support in his last start but he got it tonight as Savannah plated the first of its two runs in the third. A leadoff single by Jean Luc Blaquiere was followed up by a Jefry Marte triple that made it, 1-0, Gnats. Joey August subsequently drove in Marte from third and the Gnats secured a two-run advantage.
They would extend it to 3-0 on a Sean Ratliff RBI-double that broke an 0-for-29 slump for the outfielder. Greenville answered with two in the bottom half of the sixth to cut the lead to one but the Gnats added an insurance run in the seventh off reliever Lance McClain when he walked Eric Campbell with the bases loaded.
Greenville didn’t go quietly into the night as they put a rally together in the final inning against Rhiner Cruz. After Cruz got the first out, Will Middlebrooks singled and Ryan Dent walked to put the tying runs on. Cruz battled to strikeout Oscar Tejeda for the second out but then allowed a single through the left side to Pete Hissey.
On the play, third-base coach Billy McMillion put the stop sign up for Middlebrooks rounding third but he ran right through it and August’s throw was on target and Kai Gronauer hung on to the baseball as Middlebrooks plowed him for the final out of the game. Cruz picked up his 13th save of the season, which now ties him for second in the league.
Now back at .500, Savannah (5-5, 40-40) will look to make it two in a row over the Drive Sunday evening at 7 p.m. RHP Chris Schwinden (4-4, 3.86) takes the ball for Savannah while RHP Stephen Fife (0-2, 1.73) makes his seventh start of the year for Greenville.
Clones:
The Brooklyn Cyclones (12-2) won their sixth straight game in dramatic fashion to stay undefeated at home with a rally in the ninth inning to defeat the Tri-City Valley Cats (5-7) in front of 8,428 fans.
The Cyclones scored twice in the bottom of the ninth, and won the game on pinch-hitter Nick Santomauro’s moon shot off the left field wall, scoring 3B Nick Giarraputo from third base with a walk-off single in the ninth inning.
Starter RHP Wes Wrenn pitched 4.0 strong innings, allowing one run on two hits, and struck out six, including four batters (thanks to a dropped third strike) in the second inning). LHP Darin Gorski relieved Wrenn in the fifth inning and pitched 4.0 innings, allowing one run on three hits and had three strikeouts. LHP Lance Hoge pitched a scoreless ninth inning without surrendering a hit. Hoge would go on to earn his first win of the season.
The Cyclones first run came from a brilliant baserunning play by DH Ralph Henriquez. He allowed himself to be caught in a rundown in order to allow Giarraputo to score.
With Brooklyn down 2-1, 2B James Ewing led off the ninth inning with a double on the first pitch he saw. After being bunted to third by 1B Sam Honeck, Ewing later scored on a single by Henriquez (pictured, by George Napolitano) to tie the game. RF Luis Rivera was then intentionally walked to load the bases which set the stage for Nick Santomauro’s pinch hit walk-off single.
K-Port:
The Kingsport Mets collected their fifth straight Appalachian League loss Sunday night, falling to the Bluefield Orioles 10-4 at Hunter Wright Stadium.
But in contrast to Saturday night’s dispiriting implosion, Kingsport fought to the last out. And that made all the difference to K-Mets manager Mike DiFelice.
“I’m proud of my guys. I’m proud of them. They played a nine-inning baseball game,” said DiFelice, whose squad pushed across a run in the ninth inning on an RBI single by Cesar Puello before Michael Moras grounded into a double play to end the nascent rally.
On Saturday, Kingsport obliterated opportunities by rapping into three double plays. But context is everything. Moras’ hard-luck lick in the ninth was a lot more forgivable.
Moras, who had an RBI single in the sixth inning, was trying to make something good happen.
"Well, you know Ollie," manager Jerry Manuel said. "Ollie is not a command guy, so to speak. He is a guy that has control, but not necessarily command. What I'm hoping for is that knowing Ollie is somewhat of a performer, likes the stage, likes the big games . . . The main thing was that he was healthy. So when he comes here, he's able to take it to another level, which is what he's done for us in big games for most of his career."
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